The great tear dryer
I loved the Da’ Centurion series and I know there is so much more to milk out of it, but we must move on; and what a story to move onto. This one is good, really good. It’s short but sweet. Luke was the only one to capture it. Let’s read what the good doctor penned down and come back to talk in a few.
Luke 7:11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."
14 Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
16 They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." 17 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.
Can I rant about the whole God Sovereignty thing? Can I? Ok, I’ll wait till the next entry, but y’all have been forewarned. We better discuss the healing first. From the top: Luke 7:11 starts out with “soon afterward.”. . .soon after what? It was soon after Jesus had left Capernaum. The cool thing with the Centurion just happened in Capernaum and now Jesus, the disciples, and a large group of tag-a-longs were heading into the village Nain. Nain was about 21 miles from Capernaum so that meant Jesus & crew were hiking for real. That was some serious walking. TAXI!! Or better yet for that crowd: CHARTER BUSSES!!Thank God for modern transportation. This gives us a glimpse of how popular Jesus was becoming. Not only did Jesus and the 12 make that hike, but a large crowd came along walking for 21 miles. Jesus was that cool to be around.
So now we get into the healing, or rather the raising. As Jesus and crew were walking into the village they ran into a funeral. That’s not uncommon, funerals happen all the time. But Luke makes it clear that the funeral was for the only son of a widow. What Luke does not record is the fact that no one came up begging for this guy to be raised from the dead. Jesus, Sovereign Savior, had compassion and touched the coffin. We better go through the sequence of events recorded from V13 through V15:
1. The Lord saw her
2. He said to the woman “Don’t cry” (crazy, her son just died!!)
3. He went up & touched the coffin.
4. Those carrying it stood still.
5. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!”
6. Dude sat up and started yappin’.
Did you notice that they did not stop till he touched the coffin? What made them stop? Wait, if I jump into that then we’ll have 3 parts to this healing and I only planned on doing 2. I better back up and start with what Jesus said to the Widow at the end of V13. He said this: “Don’t cry.” Who is going to tell a Widow, at the funeral for her only son, to stop crying? He did no t say to stop crying but rather “don’t cry.” Who would do that? Jesus would and did. What’s amazing is that the woman did not smack Jesus. And what’s more amazing is the funeral crowd didn’t try to stone Jesus. Back to the widow with her non response: her silent response screams a whole lot. With her silence she allowed Jesus to speak a miracle into her life. She shut up so He could speak. What if she would have spoken up; what if she told Jesus where to go? Well, I imagine the guys that were carrying the coffin would not have stopped. I imagine this kid would have stayed dead. I imagine that the widow would have been begging for the peace that passes all understanding (like she probably did when her husband passed). I imagine her son would have been buried. But that did not happen. Instead Jesus touched the coffin and the kid sat up. As a matter of fact, he not only sat up, but he started talking. I wonder what he was saying.
Why was Jesus able to touch the coffin? Why did the kid come back to life? Why did he start talking? It was because the widow allowed Jesus to speak. When we allow the Word* to speak into our lives miracles happen.
How many miracles do we miss out on because we won’t let God speak into our lives? With the last healing we talked about the greatest act of faith and what that was. That great action of faith was the Centurion wanting the Word. How many miracles do we miss out on because we never turn to His Word properly?
What do I mean by properly? Let me give you an example. 1st Pet 2:24 makes a point to state that “by His wounds you have been healed.” Peter makes sure that that was written in the past tense, not present tense like Isaiah 53:5. Peter is stating that Jesus already paid the price and all we have to do is reach out and grab what’s been paid for. But some theologians like to rain on God’s healing parade and say that 1st Pet 2:24 is talking about some type of spiritual healing instead of physical healing. Really? Peter was a physical dude. Peter physically walked with Jesus. Peter physically saw Jesus physically heal many of those delivered in the Gospels. Peter saw the physical resurrected body of Christ. He was there when Thomas was shown the physical scars (John 20:24-29). Peter physically pulled that lame dude to his feet outside the temple (Act 3:1-10). So do you really think Peter is writing about some pseudo-spiritual healing? NO! When he physically wrote down that “by His wounds you have been healed” he is stating you are completely, physically healed. He stated in 2nd Pet 1:16 that he physically witnessed the actions of Jesus. Shoot, he physically participated. But that is just one example of turning to the Word properly.
Let me end this rant this way. Church, it’s time to shut up and listen to God and His Word. Dry those tears and grab that Word or just carry on with the funeral. That might sound harsh, but Jesus said to a widow ready bury her only son “Don’t Cry.”
Stay blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
jimmy
*John 1:1 & 14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.”
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
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